Mystery behind Kidney Smuggling
Pramod Raj Sedhain
It is believed that the network of kidney smugglers is huge in Nepal. The Indian smugglers are the key players behind kidney smuggling while mobilizing Nepali agents in the country. The agents have time and again gone to Nepali villages asking people to give kidney instead of money but few have been arrested. The villagers are usually taken to India by giving hopes that they could find good jobs. Some do it believing the words of agents while others do it simply for money. Violence has been used on them who refuse to take their kidneys and even to those who have given in consent. But the ignorant villagers who give their kidneys with consent usually do not get the amount of money promised. Besides, the insulting behavior by the agents on the victims after taking out the kidney, beyond words. The price of kidneys rises to 10 times the original price one it reaches to other countries. Several cases of kidney smuggling have come to limelight but the police and the administration have not much to say about it.It has been revealed that a kidney donor gets just a small faction of the money from the smugglers; the large sum goes in the pocket of agents. The kidney sellers are forced to return home with guilt and potential danger of diseases due to unhygienic operation while the smugglers and agents accumulate huge sum of money. It is said that Indian smugglers make NRS 700,000 from a single kidney while just investing NRS 100,000 to buy it. Smuggling of kidneys has not lessened even after the arrest of major Indian kidney smuggler Amit Kumar. He was involved in kidney smuggling in Nepal and is learnt that he had extensive network of agents in the country. But his extradition to India by Nepal Police without sufficient investigation is primarily responsible for continuation of the business by the local agents. A secret camera had earlier caught Amit Kumar saying that major area of his business was in Nepal. The video showed Amit Kumar asking NRS 1,500,000 to his Indian client for delivering kidney. Nepal Police said it is uninformed about the hospital that carryout such operations in Nepal. Ramesh Thapa, a local accomplice of Amit Kumar has fled since Amit’s arrest and the police have no information about his whereabouts. Without proper awareness, enforcement of strict laws and provision of compulsory recommendation to transplant organs, it is most likely that the vicious business of human organs will prosper more than ever.
Madhav Baral of Kavre sold one of his kidneys seven years ago to run his household. But that really did not help to serve his problems. He neither got the amount of money promised for giving his kidney nor the post-medical care after the operation. The agent told him earlier that he would be handed NRs 150,000 for his kidney but he just got NRS 45,000, lot lesser than he was promised. Not only that, the agent physically assaulted him, and returned him back together with the pain of his surgery. He told that the agent beat him severely upon asking for more money. Baral said he has difficulty in working after the operation and has started taking alcohol to ease his abdominal pain. Baral is one among many people who have been a brutal victim of organized human organ smuggling. Similarly, a man who underwent an accident and was taken to the hospital in unconscious state woke up to find one of his kidneys missing. If one believes to what he says, then it clearly illustrates the fact that even the Nepali hospitals and its doctors are some how associated with kidneys smugglers. The small amount of money they have got from selling their kidneys might be sufficient to pay some loans and run their household for sometime, but the psychological torture and physical pain they have received is likely to remain for a long period.
Who is Amit Kumar?
Amit Kumar, an international kidney smuggler, had his wide network in Nepal and India. His targeted victims were generally poor Nepali people whose kidneys were taken out in India to be sold in Australia. It is reported that his networks expanded to 60 countries worldwide. But his major operation center was Australia. Born in 1956 A.D. at Akola, India, Kumar ran a small clinic in Khar until 1980. He was reported to have made contacts with kidney smugglers after 1980s. He had already befriended some Nepali people by 1990 when he started investing in C grade movies. But he was caught by police in 1994 and was put behind bars for 5 months. He opened a hospital in Gurgaun of Hariyana after being released from the prison and started mobilizing agents for kidney smuggle in Nepal and India. He went to Canada after some years and came back to Gurgaun in 1999 again but when the police filed a case against him in 2003, he fled to Canada with his wife and children. The police had arrested him in 2000 and 2001 with allegations of kidney smuggling but was bailed out in both occasions due to lack of evidences. He did not stay there for long; Kumar came back to India for another time in 2007. It had been a while since the case had been filed against him. He might have thought the potential danger has passed and started his business of kidney smuggling once again. It is said that Kumar was sharp minded and that he would transfer his business to province where laws regulations were weak.
How was he caught?
Kumar came to Chitwan in 7th of February 2008 to stay in Hotel Wild Life Camp. The manager of the hotel Shankar Sainju had kept his eyes on him as it occurred to him that he had previously seen Kumar somewhere. Actually, he had seen him in a newspaper, where his news was published with his photo. Sainju recalled that Kumar was in a casual dress up with a blue jeans and a jacket. Hotel staff Maheshwor Regmi had assisted Kumar to take his luggage to his room and gave him a cup of coffee he had ordered. Kumar’s suspicious activity and nervous gesture had prompted the hotel staffs to call police. In a while, a team of Nepal Police raided Kumar’s room, took custody of him. The police also managed to claim cash worth 15 million dollars with different mobile cards of Canada, India, and Nepal from him. But to everyone’s surprise, Kumar was extradited to India after 2 days without further investigation. Sources within the police force said “although Interpol was in search of him and that it was justifiable to extradite him to Indian police, proper investigation should have been made in Nepal, as there were already numbers of charges against him inside the country.” His prompt extradition to India due to pressure from Indian Police had exposed the powerlessness of the government. India’s internal intelligence agency, Central Bureau of Investigation has made investigations in the case but has not revealed anything to Nepal police, which played a key role in capturing the most wanted criminal. The Indian government’s pressure to extradite Amit Kumar has left many hidden secrets of human organ smuggling in Nepal unanswered.
Pramod Raj Sedhain
It is believed that the network of kidney smugglers is huge in Nepal. The Indian smugglers are the key players behind kidney smuggling while mobilizing Nepali agents in the country. The agents have time and again gone to Nepali villages asking people to give kidney instead of money but few have been arrested. The villagers are usually taken to India by giving hopes that they could find good jobs. Some do it believing the words of agents while others do it simply for money. Violence has been used on them who refuse to take their kidneys and even to those who have given in consent. But the ignorant villagers who give their kidneys with consent usually do not get the amount of money promised. Besides, the insulting behavior by the agents on the victims after taking out the kidney, beyond words. The price of kidneys rises to 10 times the original price one it reaches to other countries. Several cases of kidney smuggling have come to limelight but the police and the administration have not much to say about it.It has been revealed that a kidney donor gets just a small faction of the money from the smugglers; the large sum goes in the pocket of agents. The kidney sellers are forced to return home with guilt and potential danger of diseases due to unhygienic operation while the smugglers and agents accumulate huge sum of money. It is said that Indian smugglers make NRS 700,000 from a single kidney while just investing NRS 100,000 to buy it. Smuggling of kidneys has not lessened even after the arrest of major Indian kidney smuggler Amit Kumar. He was involved in kidney smuggling in Nepal and is learnt that he had extensive network of agents in the country. But his extradition to India by Nepal Police without sufficient investigation is primarily responsible for continuation of the business by the local agents. A secret camera had earlier caught Amit Kumar saying that major area of his business was in Nepal. The video showed Amit Kumar asking NRS 1,500,000 to his Indian client for delivering kidney. Nepal Police said it is uninformed about the hospital that carryout such operations in Nepal. Ramesh Thapa, a local accomplice of Amit Kumar has fled since Amit’s arrest and the police have no information about his whereabouts. Without proper awareness, enforcement of strict laws and provision of compulsory recommendation to transplant organs, it is most likely that the vicious business of human organs will prosper more than ever.
Madhav Baral of Kavre sold one of his kidneys seven years ago to run his household. But that really did not help to serve his problems. He neither got the amount of money promised for giving his kidney nor the post-medical care after the operation. The agent told him earlier that he would be handed NRs 150,000 for his kidney but he just got NRS 45,000, lot lesser than he was promised. Not only that, the agent physically assaulted him, and returned him back together with the pain of his surgery. He told that the agent beat him severely upon asking for more money. Baral said he has difficulty in working after the operation and has started taking alcohol to ease his abdominal pain. Baral is one among many people who have been a brutal victim of organized human organ smuggling. Similarly, a man who underwent an accident and was taken to the hospital in unconscious state woke up to find one of his kidneys missing. If one believes to what he says, then it clearly illustrates the fact that even the Nepali hospitals and its doctors are some how associated with kidneys smugglers. The small amount of money they have got from selling their kidneys might be sufficient to pay some loans and run their household for sometime, but the psychological torture and physical pain they have received is likely to remain for a long period.
Who is Amit Kumar?
Amit Kumar, an international kidney smuggler, had his wide network in Nepal and India. His targeted victims were generally poor Nepali people whose kidneys were taken out in India to be sold in Australia. It is reported that his networks expanded to 60 countries worldwide. But his major operation center was Australia. Born in 1956 A.D. at Akola, India, Kumar ran a small clinic in Khar until 1980. He was reported to have made contacts with kidney smugglers after 1980s. He had already befriended some Nepali people by 1990 when he started investing in C grade movies. But he was caught by police in 1994 and was put behind bars for 5 months. He opened a hospital in Gurgaun of Hariyana after being released from the prison and started mobilizing agents for kidney smuggle in Nepal and India. He went to Canada after some years and came back to Gurgaun in 1999 again but when the police filed a case against him in 2003, he fled to Canada with his wife and children. The police had arrested him in 2000 and 2001 with allegations of kidney smuggling but was bailed out in both occasions due to lack of evidences. He did not stay there for long; Kumar came back to India for another time in 2007. It had been a while since the case had been filed against him. He might have thought the potential danger has passed and started his business of kidney smuggling once again. It is said that Kumar was sharp minded and that he would transfer his business to province where laws regulations were weak.
How was he caught?
Kumar came to Chitwan in 7th of February 2008 to stay in Hotel Wild Life Camp. The manager of the hotel Shankar Sainju had kept his eyes on him as it occurred to him that he had previously seen Kumar somewhere. Actually, he had seen him in a newspaper, where his news was published with his photo. Sainju recalled that Kumar was in a casual dress up with a blue jeans and a jacket. Hotel staff Maheshwor Regmi had assisted Kumar to take his luggage to his room and gave him a cup of coffee he had ordered. Kumar’s suspicious activity and nervous gesture had prompted the hotel staffs to call police. In a while, a team of Nepal Police raided Kumar’s room, took custody of him. The police also managed to claim cash worth 15 million dollars with different mobile cards of Canada, India, and Nepal from him. But to everyone’s surprise, Kumar was extradited to India after 2 days without further investigation. Sources within the police force said “although Interpol was in search of him and that it was justifiable to extradite him to Indian police, proper investigation should have been made in Nepal, as there were already numbers of charges against him inside the country.” His prompt extradition to India due to pressure from Indian Police had exposed the powerlessness of the government. India’s internal intelligence agency, Central Bureau of Investigation has made investigations in the case but has not revealed anything to Nepal police, which played a key role in capturing the most wanted criminal. The Indian government’s pressure to extradite Amit Kumar has left many hidden secrets of human organ smuggling in Nepal unanswered.
